Forcible Displacement

As per 2020 statistical reporting in the Americas, the total population of concern is 18,357,000, this includes:

• Total Refugees, Asylum-seekers & Venezuelan Displaced Abroad: 6,728,000
  
• Total Internally Displaced Persons 8,571,000
• Total Statelessness 4,000
• Total Other of Concerns 3,052,000

The total number of persons of concern by end of 2020 stood at 18,357,000, an increase of more than 20 per cent from 2019.

Venezuelan Displaced Abroad is relatively new category for UNHCR.

Figure 1: | Population of Concern in 2020 in the Americas

Solutions

Finding solutions that enable refugees and other forcibly displaced people to live their lives in dignity and peace is a core part of UNHCR work. They can include voluntary repatriation (aka “Return”), resettlement and integration (aka “Naturalisation”).

• Total Returned Refugees 0
• Total Returned IDP 0
• Total Resettlement 19,000
• Total Naturalisation 5,000

In the region, the total recorded solutions account for about 0.13 % of the total number of people of concern to UNHCR.

Regional Overview

The Americas hosts 20 per cent of the total persons of concern to UNHCR in the world. In more details, the 18 per cent of the world’s Internally Displaced Persons population, more than 8 million in Colombia. More than 50 per cent of Asylum-seekers (pending cases) of the world are in Americas. 3 per cent of the refugees. 38 per cent of the world People in refugee-like situations and the 37 per cent Others of concern to UNHCR worldwide. Venezuelans displaced abroad are only reported in Americas.

There were more than 6.7 million (6,728,000) refugees, asylum-seekers and Venezuelan displaced abroad (a new category), more than 8 million internally displaced persons (8,571,000) in the region. Persons under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate in the region by end of 2020 stood at 4,000.

Figure 2: | Population origin-destination in the region

?????? The following chart visualizes population movements between source and destination countries in the region. Countries that account for less than ????1% of the population of concern were lumped together as “Other”.

Figure 3: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern

The evolution in the last 20 years shows a significant increase in Internally Displaced Persons, specifically in Colombia (8,252,788 over 8,571,000). In the last five years, Asylum-seekers increased substantially. Recently a new category were introduced Venezuelan Displaced Abroad. Refugees are stationary over the time. It is registered an important increase over the last two years of Other of Concerns (in 2020, 3,052,000).

Figure 4: | Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population (SDG Indicator 16.1.2)

This graph shows the ‘Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population’. The five most violent countries in Americas are from the central America: Belize, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. Central America is the most violence place of Americas and of the entire world. The violence seems concentrated in the big cities and Criminal gangs have territorial control in Central America, where poverty is rampant. In these areas, people experiment poverty and economic inequality according with mejor socio-ecomomic index. ACLED collects real-time data of all reported political violence.

What displacement?

??????Compared to the previous year, the population groups with increases were the returned IDPs with 22 per cent and the number of internally displaced persons increased by 12 per cent. The number of refugees and asylum-seekers both reduced slightly by 4 per cent respectively. The largest decrease was within the refugee returnee category with 75 per cent.

Figure 5: | Largest Countries of Asylum

Considering together Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Venezuelan Displaced Abroad, Colombia is the first country with more population, especially for the presence of Venezuelan Displaced Abroad (1,729,537). United States of America has the second largest host has a big component of Refugees (340,844) and Asylum Seekers (997,998). The third country, Peru has a great component of Venezuelan Displaced Abroad (515,039).

The evolution in the last 20 years shows a significant increased in Internally Displaced Persons, especially in Colombia (8,252,788 over 8,571,000).

Figure 6: | Other Displacement

Colombia IDP are the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) is the 17 per cent of world’s IDP (8,253,000 over 48,557,439). This is the official figure. This is a historical and cumulative figure of IDPs is being used nowadays. Maybe a revision of the IDPs in Colombia can change this figure.

Colombia OOC is the sum of Other persons of concern (500,000) and Host Community (787,450). Normally, Other persons of concern are people out of their country, in the special case of Colombia Other persons of concern are mostly returnee Colombians from Venezuela.

Figure 7: | Proportion of the population who are refugees, by country of origin (SDG Indicator 10.7.4)

Impact of Covid-19, a dramatic drop of solutions

Since the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in December 2019, more than 170 million people worldwide have contracted the virus. The Americas is among the most affected regions

Durable solutions include voluntary repatriation, resettlement to a third country, local integration, naturalization and return to place of origin prior to displacement (for IDPs). However, a growing number of displaced populations have limited opportunities for a durable solution. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these challenges.

Costa Rica. UNHCR expands cash assistance programme during COVID-19 crisis

The partial or full closure of borders, along with more general restrictions on movement aimed at limiting the pandemic’s spread, has dramatically impacted opportunities for displaced people to return to their home countries or resettle to other countries.

Figure 8: | Trends for Solution

The Resettlement solution decreased in the last 5 years.

Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Processing

RSD application is mostly done through Government

Figure 9: | Asylum Application in 2020

Most RSD activities occurs in the US.

Figure 10: | Number of Status Determination Decision par Asylum Country in 2020

Though, the US has a recognition rate below 5%

Figure 11: | Recognition rate by Country of Asylum in 2020

Most RSD applications comes from Venezuelan

Figure 12: | Number of Status Determination Decision par Origin Country in 2020

And for the minority of Venezuelan that can go through this process, the recognition rate is the actually the highest among other country of origin in the region.

Figure 13: | Recognition rate by Country of Origin in 2020

Looking at the decision process, we can see that the level of recognition varies widely depending on the country of Asylum.

Figure 14: | Asylum Decision in 2020

Venezuela Situation

As the second-largest displacement crisis in the world, refugees and migrants from Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) now total 5.7 million globally, of which more than 80 percent are hosted by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. To date, more than 171,000 have been recognized as refugees and over 850,000 asylum claims have also been lodged worldwide. Across the region, just under 2.7 million have been granted some form of residency or regular stay permit.

Inside Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), UNHCR protects and assists refugees and Venezuelan nationals. The latter is done in the framework of the Humanitarian Response Plan which targets 4.5 million persons in need. Primarily through the protection cluster and the cluster responsible for shelter, energy and non-food items, UNHCR’s coordination and operational efforts support people on-the-move, at risk of displacement, host communities, as well as limited numbers of spontaneous returns, especially in border areas and along key population movement routes.

El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala & Mexico

Demographic Breakdown

Often demographic data are not available in Americas. Available demographic data for persons of concern in the region for 2020 show a balance between sex. Of the total population, more than 30 per cent are children below the age of 18 and around the 5 per cent are elderly 60 years and above. More than 35 per cent are between 18-59 years.

Figure 15: | Demographic breakdown

Other of Concerns in Central America

IDP estimation in Colombia

Glossary of UNHCR Statistical Concept

Forcibly Displaced Population data are sent to UNHCR Country Offices by member states, usually through national institutions responsible for data production in the area of refugee and asylum (National Statistical Offices, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, and Administrative Tribunals). D. When a country does not report refugee figures to UNHCR, estimations based on positive decisions on asylum applications from previous years are used.

UNHCR Population Statistics Databasehttps://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/ contains data about UNHCR’s populations of concern from the year 1951 up to 2014 as well as their general composition by location of residence or origin, their status, their evolution over time. This includes different population type and solution events:

• Refugees include individuals recognized under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; its 1967 Protocol; the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa; those recognised in accordance with the UNHCR Statute; individuals granted complementary forms of protection; or those enjoying temporary protection. Since 2007, the refugee population also includes people in a refugee-like situation. Refugees recognized by the Government and/or UNHCR include:

  • 1. persons recognized as refugees by Governments having ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and/or its 1967 Protocol;
  • 2. persons recognized as refugees under the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa;
       
  • 3. those recognized in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Cartagena Declaration;
       
  • 4. persons recognized by UNHCR as refugees in accordance with its Statute (otherwise referred to as “mandate” refugees);
       
  • 5. those who have been granted a complementary form of protection (i.e. non-Convention);
       
  • 6. persons who have been granted temporary protection on a group basis; Persons in a refugee-like situation refer to those outside their territory of origin who face protection risks similar to those of refugees, but who, for practical or other reasons, have not been formally recognized or issued documentation to that effect.

• Asylum-seekers are individuals who have sought international protection and whose claims for refugee status have not yet been determined, irrespective of when they may have been lodged.

• Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are people or groups of individuals who have been forced to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights, or natural or man-made disasters, and who have not crossed an international border. For the purposes of UNHCR’s statistics, this population only includes conflict-generated IDPs to whom the Office extends protection and/or assistance. Since 2007, the IDP population also includes people in an IDP-like situation. For global IDP estimates, see www.internal-displacement.orghttp://www.internal-displacement.org.

• Returned refugees are former refugees who have returned to their country of origin spontaneously or in an organised fashion but are yet to be fully integrated. Such return would normally only take place in conditions of safety and dignity.

• Returned IDPs refer to those IDPs who were beneficiaries of UNHCR’s protection and assistance activities and who returned to their areas of origin or habitual residence during the year.

• Stateless persons are defined under international law as persons who are not considered as nationals by any State under the operation of its law. In other words, they do not possess the nationality of any State. UNHCR statistics refer to persons who fall under the agency’s statelessness mandate because they are stateless according to this international definition, but data from some countries may also include persons with undetermined nationality.

• Others of concern refers to individuals who do not necessarily fall directly into any of the groups above, but to whom UNHCR extends its protection and/or assistance services, based on humanitarian or other special grounds (e.g. based on regional documents, peace agreements, General Assembly resolutions). Persons with whom UNHCR is engaged purely on a good offices basis, such as, for instance, rejected asylum-seekers, are not included. This group also includes Host Community, i.e, communities that hosts large populations of refugees or internally displaced persons, whether in camps, integrated into households, or independently.

• Venezuelan Displaced Abroad: People of Venezuelan origin displaced across borders, and who are likely to be in need of international protection under the criteria contained in the Cartagena Declaration, but who have not applied for asylum in the country in which they are present. Regardless of status, Venezuelans displaced abroad require protection against forced returns, and access to basic services. UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration work together with this population by leading the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform, which is aimed at strengthening the protection dimensions and consistent responses across the region in line with human rights standards.

Every year, UNHCR publish its Population Statistics Reference. it includes detailed statistics from each country on Refugee Status Determination. The data set contains not only reference by country of asylum and country of origin but also:

• Type of procedure: RSD conducted by UNHCR (U), the Government (G), or Jointly (J) by UNHCR and the Government.
  
• Applications refer to “new” applications (N), “re-opened/repeat” applications (R) and/or “appeal” applications (A).
  
• Applications refer to number of persons (P) or number of cases (C). (Preference: PERSONS)
  
• Decisions refer to first instance (FI), appeal/administrative review (AR), judicial review (JR), New applications (NA), Repeat/reopened applications (RA), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (IN), US Executive Office of Immigration Review (EO), Subsidiary protection (SP), First instance and appeal (FA) and/or Temporary asylum (TA).

Country Highlights

Colombia

Population of Concern

Figure 16: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Colombia

No solutions recorded in Colombia

RSD activities are mostly for Venezuelan

Figure 17: | Asylum Decision in Colombia

Venezuela

Population of Concern

Figure 18: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Venezuela

Solutions

Figure 19: | Solutions in Venezuela

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 20: | Asylum Decision in Venezuela

United States of America

Population of Concern

Figure 21: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in United States of America

Solutions

Figure 22: | Solutions in United States of America

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 23: | Asylum Decision in United States of America

Peru

Population of Concern

Figure 24: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Peru

Solutions

Figure 25: | Solutions in Peru

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 26: | Asylum Decision in Peru

Ecuador

Population of Concern

Figure 27: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Ecuador

Solutions

Figure 28: | Solutions in Ecuador

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 29: | Asylum Decision in Ecuador

Chile

Population of Concern

Figure 30: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Chile

Solutions

Figure 31: | Solutions in Chile

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 32: | Asylum Decision in Chile

Brazil

Population of Concern

Figure 33: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Brazil

Solutions

Figure 34: | Solutions in Brazil

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 35: | Asylum Decision in Brazil

Mexico

Population of Concern

Figure 36: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Mexico

Solutions

Figure 37: | Solutions in Mexico

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 38: | Asylum Decision in Mexic0

Canada

Population of Concern

Figure 39: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Canada

Solutions

Figure 40: | Solutions in Canada

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 41: | Asylum Decision in Canada

Argentina

Population of Concern

Figure 42: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Argentina

Solutions

Figure 43: | Solutions in Argentina

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 44: | Asylum Decision in Argentina

Panama

Population of Concern

Figure 45: | Evolution over time of the different Population of Concern in Panama

Solutions

Figure 46: | Solutions

RSD activities are mostly for ..

Figure 47: | Asylum Decision in Panama